First of all I'd like to say that I listened to many headphones before getting this one and I own quite a few as you can see in my profile. I was looking for an ideal portable headphone and everytime I was unhappy about something. Here is what I went through: iGrado: good sound, but not comfortable, cheap looks, Beyerdynamic T50p: too expensive and still below DENON performance on my opinion, Grado SR 225: harsh, tiring, not very comfortable, virtually no isolation due to open nature with great sound though. Ultrasone HFI 780, not comfortable, too heavy, need amlification, not really portable. Etymotic HF5: can't complain about this one, but I just wanted bigger sound option. Philips SHP 5401: if you have only $40 bucks to spent go for this one. Beyerdynamic T5P ($1400): I will get attacked for this, but I really found them unremarkable unamplified directly from an iPod, DENON sounds better !
At some point I thought that there is no perfect portable headphone. One day I walked into Bay and Bloor Radio and listened to DENON AH-D5000, I was blown away and I thought that this is the ultimate headphone for me, however the problem was that its not really portable. But that was my introduction to DENON sound. Saw when I saw this one for sale I had to listen to it. I made a decision in 5 min. I have to say that D1001 has quite similar sound signature to D5000. So in short here is what I think:
COMFORT: It just can't get better, its super light, the ear cushons are super soft, even thought its not big it covers my ears completely. Japanese style - attention to every detail.
LOOKS: I gave it 5 starts.
BASS: The bass is punchy, well textured and very realistic, the only way I can describe it is its DENONs bass
It has something pleasant about it. Its great for iPod cause generally iPod is lacking bass almost with any headphones.
MIDS: quite forward and present, not as present as in Grado for example, but not recessed at all as with so many headphones. Since I listen to lot of heavy metal to me if the headphone sounds good for heavy metal it is a good headphone. For some reason heavy metail music to me is the most difficult to reproduce properly cause it requires it all: the bass, the mids, crisp highs and great detail all at the same time. Not many headphones can do that. Some will excel in electronic music and suck for heavy metal
HIGHS: crisp and clear, bright enough but not too bright to be fatiguing. This is enough thing that I was looking for which is quite hard to find. Its quite amazing but DENON does it all
SOUNDSTAGE: one of the widest you will find in portable headphones, definetely wider than Grados.
I really can't find anything wrong with this headphone. Bravo to japanese one more time.
At some point I thought that there is no perfect portable headphone. One day I walked into Bay and Bloor Radio and listened to DENON AH-D5000, I was blown away and I thought that this is the ultimate headphone for me, however the problem was that its not really portable. But that was my introduction to DENON sound. Saw when I saw this one for sale I had to listen to it. I made a decision in 5 min. I have to say that D1001 has quite similar sound signature to D5000. So in short here is what I think:
COMFORT: It just can't get better, its super light, the ear cushons are super soft, even thought its not big it covers my ears completely. Japanese style - attention to every detail.
LOOKS: I gave it 5 starts.
BASS: The bass is punchy, well textured and very realistic, the only way I can describe it is its DENONs bass
It has something pleasant about it. Its great for iPod cause generally iPod is lacking bass almost with any headphones.MIDS: quite forward and present, not as present as in Grado for example, but not recessed at all as with so many headphones. Since I listen to lot of heavy metal to me if the headphone sounds good for heavy metal it is a good headphone. For some reason heavy metail music to me is the most difficult to reproduce properly cause it requires it all: the bass, the mids, crisp highs and great detail all at the same time. Not many headphones can do that. Some will excel in electronic music and suck for heavy metal
HIGHS: crisp and clear, bright enough but not too bright to be fatiguing. This is enough thing that I was looking for which is quite hard to find. Its quite amazing but DENON does it all
SOUNDSTAGE: one of the widest you will find in portable headphones, definetely wider than Grados.
I really can't find anything wrong with this headphone. Bravo to japanese one more time.
